Oak Ridge School Board studies tuition, attendance

The Oak Ridge Board of Education has approved tuition rates for students living outside the city — with some of the rates being higher than the previous year, but most being lower.

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By Donna Smith/Staff

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Donna Smith/Staff

Posted Aug. 13, 2013 at 6:49 PM

By Donna Smith/Staff

Posted Aug. 13, 2013 at 6:49 PM

The Oak Ridge Board of Education has approved tuition rates for students living outside the city — with some of the rates being higher than the previous year, but most being lower.

The new school year begins Monday for students in Oak Ridge schools. Pupil Services Director Larrissa Henderson told the School Board at its meeting this week that the number of tuition students has dropped slightly from the prior year.

However, Henderson said she’s getting inquiries from parents and students, mainly from Clinton and Knoxville, asking about attending Oak Ridge High School.

She attributed the slight drop in tuition students to the economy and people moving into Oak Ridge, which would mean they wouldn’t have to pay tuition to attend the city schools.

The approved rates for the current year are listed — followed by last school year’s rates:

Parents or guardians of students living in Anderson or Roane counties, but outside Oak Ridge, will pay slightly less this year than last year, as will out-of-state residents.

The tuition rates for students living in other Tennessee counties will pay slighty more than they paid the previous year.

According to information provided by the School Board’s meeting agenda: Non-resident tuition rates for each school year for residents of Anderson and Roane counties are calculated by adding prior year revenues received from the city of Oak Ridge, federal funds for maintenance and operation and current non-tax revenue, and dividing this total by the Average Daily Membership (student attendance) for the prior year. The difference between the per pupil amount contributed to the city schools by the counties is added to the tuition rate for the county contributing the lesser amount.

Tuition rates for students living in Tennessee, but outside Anderson and Roane are calculated by adding prior year revenues received from those counties, the city, federal funds and current tax revenue, and dividing the total by the prior year’s ADM.

Out-of-state residents’ tuition rate is calculated in the same manner as above except the prior year balance and the state revenue received by the city schools is added to the total, prior to dividing by the ADM for the prior year.

The basic rate for each tuition rate is adjusted for elementary and secondary pupils and is calculated at less than five percent for kindergarten through sixth grade, plus six percent for seventh- through 12th-grade.

Page 2 of 2 - Asked about the drop in some tuition rates, Karen Gagliano, the school system’s director of business and support services, reminded the Oak Ridge Board of Education that the current year’s budget reflects a drop in expenditures over the previous year.

School Board member Bob Eby said the administrators might want to look at a way to lower the tuition rates to encourage people to attend the Oak Ridge schools, perhaps in certain grade levels, but not so much as to force the system to hire more teachers because of an increased student load.